Austin Schools Superintendent Meria Carstarphen said voters sent a message to the school board in this Saturday’s bond election: Work with what you have.
Carstarphen said that the $490 million approved for Austin schools will help the district focus on what she called “critical needs.” But she added that voters’ rejection of Propositions 2 and 4 could mean that AISD will use cost-saving measures.
"We have to have a conversation about policies and practices," Carstarphen said. "Whether that’s transfers and boundaries, or any other approaches to our work that we’ve used before – like portables and things of that sort – will come back on the table.”
While the vote may not ease overcrowding in AISD schools, Carstarphen added that all district facilities should see “a bit of a facelift” by next school year. She added that despite the failure of props 2 and 4, the district is still "ecstatic" about the results.
“I think that our taxpayers – in one of the toughest economies that we’ve seen as a nation, under the toughest public education reductions the state has seen since the World Wars, and one of the toughest taxing environments in the state of Texas, for Austin – we have an amazing commitment from good people of Austin doing the right thing for kids,” Carstarphen said.
